I think that Turbine did wonderful job for what its worth.
Their art department did a great job.
But all the game mechanics are tired, outdated, and boring. Their world is fractured, instanced, and full of invisible walls. The best part of Middle Earth (exploring it) isn't even possible in this quest grind adventure based game. You can't live in Middle Earth, you have to quest through little instances of it. And that, is the opposite of a "wonderful job".
What? I've played the game for a long time, and I spent a lot of time exploring Middle Earth. I'd also like to know where these 'invisible walls' are, as I've only come across maybe a half dozen of them throughout the entire world.
Well, there's about 5 in The Shire, there's several up in Angmar and the Misty Mountains, lots in the Old Forest, a few in the Archet area, and some in Weathertop. Not to mention all the dungeons that have doors that, when you click them, literally say "You cannot enter here without the proper quest."
Originally posted by ThomasN7 It is Turbine. What did you expect ? It still amazes me that people actually think Turbine is actually good at what they do. They are an average developer at best in my opinion. Whoever granted them the rights to this ip should have their heads checked. I love Lotr and giving the rights to Turbine was a huge fail. It is really disappointing.
This is so unfair. Please do tell me one better adaptation of any book or movie to a video game , not to say MMO.
As for point made about breaching the lore soon after you leave the Shire.
Point being made, its the game. As far as growing pipeweed and gossiping would be far more fitting. I doubt that anyone including you would manage to play 6 years time of watch the cabbage grow. Not even 1 week.
Its a game.
As for lore ending with Shire. I also beg to differ.
Just that climb down the secret passage to Rivendell was worth awe to any Tolkien fan.
I think that Turbine did wonderful job for what its worth.
Their art department did a great job.
But all the game mechanics are tired, outdated, and boring. Their world is fractured, instanced, and full of invisible walls. The best part of Middle Earth (exploring it) isn't even possible in this quest grind adventure based game. You can't live in Middle Earth, you have to quest through little instances of it. And that, is the opposite of a "wonderful job".
What? I've played the game for a long time, and I spent a lot of time exploring Middle Earth. I'd also like to know where these 'invisible walls' are, as I've only come across maybe a half dozen of them throughout the entire world.
Well, there's about 5 in The Shire, there's several up in Angmar and the Misty Mountains, lots in the Old Forest, a few in the Archet area, and some in Weathertop. Not to mention all the dungeons that have doors that, when you click them, literally say "You cannot enter here without the proper quest."
There are not 5 invisible walls in the shire, Angmar your referring to the dread you get if you don't follow the story. Try to follow the story (main part of the game) instead of running around trying to find things that don't exist. Weathertop wtf? Are taking about the skirmish? There are no invisible walls in the open world of weathertop etc etc etc this myth about invisible walls is a joke. Yeah you can't go to domes caves cause you didn't complete or follow a quest do the quest then you can. If you think Lotro is not one of the more open world mmos out today you at just trolling plain and simple.
I think that Turbine did wonderful job for what its worth.
Their art department did a great job.
But all the game mechanics are tired, outdated, and boring. Their world is fractured, instanced, and full of invisible walls. The best part of Middle Earth (exploring it) isn't even possible in this quest grind adventure based game. You can't live in Middle Earth, you have to quest through little instances of it. And that, is the opposite of a "wonderful job".
What? I've played the game for a long time, and I spent a lot of time exploring Middle Earth. I'd also like to know where these 'invisible walls' are, as I've only come across maybe a half dozen of them throughout the entire world.
Well, there's about 5 in The Shire, there's several up in Angmar and the Misty Mountains, lots in the Old Forest, a few in the Archet area, and some in Weathertop. Not to mention all the dungeons that have doors that, when you click them, literally say "You cannot enter here without the proper quest."
Try to follow the story (main part of the game) instead of running around trying to find things that don't exist.
And here is the main problem I found with the game. Instead of allowing you to explore Middle Earth at your own risk, they force you down corridoors, block you with visible and inivisble gates, and more or less ruin any chance of letting yourself get lost in the game world.
I don't enter Middle Earth to follow a scripted linear half ass attempt at a singleplayer game. I go to be in Middle Earth, and LotRO tries to stop me. I'm not looking for things that don't exist, I'm just exploring, like I can do in virtually every other MMO.
Originally posted by Lobotomist
If you think Lotro is not one of the more open world mmos out today you at just trolling plain and simple.
It isn't, by far. I just explained it. Invisible walls, quest locked zones, all dungeons are locked unless you follow a linear quest chain, every house has a loading screen. Games from the 90s were more open than LotRO.
I think that Turbine did wonderful job for what its worth.
Their art department did a great job.
But all the game mechanics are tired, outdated, and boring. Their world is fractured, instanced, and full of invisible walls. The best part of Middle Earth (exploring it) isn't even possible in this quest grind adventure based game. You can't live in Middle Earth, you have to quest through little instances of it. And that, is the opposite of a "wonderful job".
What? I've played the game for a long time, and I spent a lot of time exploring Middle Earth. I'd also like to know where these 'invisible walls' are, as I've only come across maybe a half dozen of them throughout the entire world.
Well, there's about 5 in The Shire, there's several up in Angmar and the Misty Mountains, lots in the Old Forest, a few in the Archet area, and some in Weathertop. Not to mention all the dungeons that have doors that, when you click them, literally say "You cannot enter here without the proper quest."
Try to follow the story (main part of the game) instead of running around trying to find things that don't exist.
And here is the main problem I found with the game. Instead of allowing you to explore Middle Earth at your own risk, they force you down corridoors, block you with visible and inivisble gates, and more or less ruin any chance of letting yourself get lost in the game world.
I don't enter Middle Earth to follow a scripted linear half ass attempt at a singleplayer game. I go to be in Middle Earth, and LotRO tries to stop me. I'm not looking for things that don't exist, I'm just exploring, like I can do in virtually every other MMO.
Originally posted by Lobotomist
If you think Lotro is not one of the more open world mmos out today you at just trolling plain and simple.
It isn't, by far. I just explained it. Invisible walls, quest locked zones, all dungeons are locked unless you follow a linear quest chain, every house has a loading screen. Games from the 90s were more open than LotRO.
My my post is very accurate about you. If you start the game in Bree for example you can explore tons of the game your first issue would be in angmar when you hit dread. You have any idea how long it would take you to get there and what you would experience on your way? Ok you want to go the other direction your 1st loading screen would be Moria again any clue how long it would take you to get there? What you would see along the way with no invisible walls in Weathertop or Rivendell or misty mountains . Pleas tell me a few mmo that have a more open world then Lotro. Again if you think lotro world is not open then your a troll plain and simple. Go play FFXIV, even Swtor, or Sto, or Age of Conan etc etc. you mass amounts of invisible are nothing but a poor attempt at bashing a video game you don't like.
I am a huge Tolkien fan and have been playing LOTRO since 2008 and loving it. I think Turbine has done a fine job with making a Lord of the Rings MMO. I plan on playing well in to Mordor and hopefully beyond.
Just that climb down the secret passage to Rivendell was worth awe to any Tolkien fan.
Did you really think that passage was "secret"? Honestly?
Well, we definitely don't have the same concept of "secret" then. While the view down the valley back in 2007 (when the graphics were "modern") was quite cool, the passage was definitely not secret, just follow the "theme park" road (you can't do anything else anyway because of the invisible walls and restrictive hills on each side) and you get there.
I found it at low level with my very first character, without breaking a sweat. There are more "secrets" in a single area of GW2 than in the whole LOTRO world.
There are more loading screens between zones and invisible walls in gw2 than lotro and lotro world is about 5x the size of GW2.
Just that climb down the secret passage to Rivendell was worth awe to any Tolkien fan.
Did you really think that passage was "secret"? Honestly?
Well, we definitely don't have the same concept of "secret" then. While the view down the valley back in 2007 (when the graphics were "modern") was quite cool, the passage was definitely not secret, just follow the "theme park" road (you can't do anything else anyway because of the invisible walls and restrictive hills on each side) and you get there.
I found it at low level with my very first character, without breaking a sweat. There are more "secrets" in a single area of GW2 than in the whole LOTRO world.
There are more loading screens between zones and invisible walls in gw2 than lotro and lotro world is about 5x the size of GW2.
That is entirely unrelated to what he said. LotRO takes you on a yellow brick road to all the points of interest, GW2 doesn't.
Just that climb down the secret passage to Rivendell was worth awe to any Tolkien fan.
Did you really think that passage was "secret"? Honestly?
Well, we definitely don't have the same concept of "secret" then. While the view down the valley back in 2007 (when the graphics were "modern") was quite cool, the passage was definitely not secret, just follow the "theme park" road (you can't do anything else anyway because of the invisible walls and restrictive hills on each side) and you get there.
I found it at low level with my very first character, without breaking a sweat. There are more "secrets" in a single area of GW2 than in the whole LOTRO world.
There is nothing "secret" in any MMO. Everything can be found out as an mmo is not the real world. I think you're confusing the two.
I think LOTRO is still a fun game and am enjoying playing it. Stop being so burnt out and go get some fresh air.
My my post is very accurate about you. If you start the game in Bree for example you can explore tons of the game your first issue would be in angmar when you hit dread. Except for all the locked rooms and dungeons that require quests, which you encounter constantly. You have any idea how long it would take you to get there and what you would experience on your way? It took me about 40 minutes to get to Angmar, thinking I'd be able to explore, only to get insta killed without reason or warning and have to go back. Ok you want to go the other direction your 1st loading screen would be Moria again any clue how long it would take you to get there? What you would see along the way with no invisible walls in Weathertop or Rivendell or misty mountains . Pleas tell me a few mmo that have a more open world then Lotro. Dark Age of Camelot. Asheron's Call. Darkfall. Vanguard. Star Wars Galaxies. Ryzom. Fallen Earth. Almost every one I've played. Again if you think lotro world is not open then your a troll plain and simple. Go play FFXIV, even Swtor, or Sto, or Age of Conan etc etc. you mass amounts of invisible are nothing but a poor attempt at bashing a video game you don't like. Those all have the same problems LotRO does, why would I play them?
I think that Turbine did wonderful job for what its worth.
Their art department did a great job.
But all the game mechanics are tired, outdated, and boring. Their world is fractured, instanced, and full of invisible walls. The best part of Middle Earth (exploring it) isn't even possible in this quest grind adventure based game. You can't live in Middle Earth, you have to quest through little instances of it. And that, is the opposite of a "wonderful job".
What? I've played the game for a long time, and I spent a lot of time exploring Middle Earth. I'd also like to know where these 'invisible walls' are, as I've only come across maybe a half dozen of them throughout the entire world.
Well, there's about 5 in The Shire, there's several up in Angmar and the Misty Mountains, lots in the Old Forest, a few in the Archet area, and some in Weathertop. Not to mention all the dungeons that have doors that, when you click them, literally say "You cannot enter here without the proper quest."
Try to follow the story (main part of the game) instead of running around trying to find things that don't exist.
And here is the main problem I found with the game. Instead of allowing you to explore Middle Earth at your own risk, they force you down corridoors, block you with visible and inivisble gates, and more or less ruin any chance of letting yourself get lost in the game world.
I don't enter Middle Earth to follow a scripted linear half ass attempt at a singleplayer game. I go to be in Middle Earth, and LotRO tries to stop me. I'm not looking for things that don't exist, I'm just exploring, like I can do in virtually every other MMO.
Originally posted by Lobotomist
If you think Lotro is not one of the more open world mmos out today you at just trolling plain and simple.
It isn't, by far. I just explained it. Invisible walls, quest locked zones, all dungeons are locked unless you follow a linear quest chain, every house has a loading screen. Games from the 90s were more open than LotRO.
Its one of the most open pve worlds sine UO, together with vanguard...
you can do and go everywhere, with or withouth quests... And espescially the orriginal game has some great open world dungeons...
And if you love stories ( and what tolkien doesnt) the game becomes even better...
add to that the great roleplaying and fammilie friendly community on my server, and it is the single game i allways keep returning to....
offcourse you cant be 100 true to the story, but every bit of content is atleast along the lines of tolkiens world. It feels medieval and dark. It feels like a world and not like a game... Its one of the best books i ever starred in.. People complaining about the lack of freedom?
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
My my post is very accurate about you. If you start the game in Bree for example you can explore tons of the game your first issue would be in angmar when you hit dread. Except for all the locked rooms and dungeons that require quests, which you encounter constantly. You have any idea how long it would take you to get there and what you would experience on your way? It took me about 40 minutes to get to Angmar, thinking I'd be able to explore, only to get insta killed without reason or warning and have to go back. Ok you want to go the other direction your 1st loading screen would be Moria again any clue how long it would take you to get there? What you would see along the way with no invisible walls in Weathertop or Rivendell or misty mountains . Pleas tell me a few mmo that have a more open world then Lotro. Dark Age of Camelot. Asheron's Call. Darkfall. Vanguard. Star Wars Galaxies. Ryzom. Fallen Earth. Almost every one I've played. Again if you think lotro world is not open then your a troll plain and simple. Go play FFXIV, even Swtor, or Sto, or Age of Conan etc etc. you mass amounts of invisible are nothing but a poor attempt at bashing a video game you don't like. Those all have the same problems LotRO does, why would I play them?
[mod edit]
I was part of the internal alpha for Middle Earth Online. I was part of the alpha for Lord of the Rings Online. I bought the collector's edition. I played from launch until Moria, and went back to play about 3-4 times since then. I know more about this game than most of you, where it started, and where it went.
My "issue" is that the game world isn't open from default. You can't tell me "Oh yeah, the front door is unlocked, but you have to go on a quest for the key first."
I think that Turbine did wonderful job for what its worth.
Their art department did a great job.
But all the game mechanics are tired, outdated, and boring. Their world is fractured, instanced, and full of invisible walls. The best part of Middle Earth (exploring it) isn't even possible in this quest grind adventure based game. You can't live in Middle Earth, you have to quest through little instances of it. And that, is the opposite of a "wonderful job".
What? I've played the game for a long time, and I spent a lot of time exploring Middle Earth. I'd also like to know where these 'invisible walls' are, as I've only come across maybe a half dozen of them throughout the entire world.
Well, there's about 5 in The Shire, there's several up in Angmar and the Misty Mountains, lots in the Old Forest, a few in the Archet area, and some in Weathertop. Not to mention all the dungeons that have doors that, when you click them, literally say "You cannot enter here without the proper quest."
Try to follow the story (main part of the game) instead of running around trying to find things that don't exist.
And here is the main problem I found with the game. Instead of allowing you to explore Middle Earth at your own risk, they force you down corridoors, block you with visible and inivisble gates, and more or less ruin any chance of letting yourself get lost in the game world.
I don't enter Middle Earth to follow a scripted linear half ass attempt at a singleplayer game. I go to be in Middle Earth, and LotRO tries to stop me. I'm not looking for things that don't exist, I'm just exploring, like I can do in virtually every other MMO.
Originally posted by Lobotomist
If you think Lotro is not one of the more open world mmos out today you at just trolling plain and simple.
It isn't, by far. I just explained it. Invisible walls, quest locked zones, all dungeons are locked unless you follow a linear quest chain, every house has a loading screen. Games from the 90s were more open than LotRO.
Its one of the most open pve worlds sine UO, together with vanguard...
you can do and go everywhere wrong, with or withouth quests wrong... And espescially the orriginal game has some great open world dungeons... very few, like 3
And if you love stories ( and what tolkien doesnt) the game becomes even better... I love stories. Good stories in video games show the impact of your actions and give you choices. None of your actions impact the game world in LotRO, and you are never given choices.
add to that the great roleplaying and fammilie friendly community on my server, and it is the single game i allways keep returning to.... The community is a pale shadow of what it was during alpha. It's still better than most, but everyone is more solo focused rather than community focused.
It feels medieval and dark. It feels like a world and not like a game... No. It feels like a game. The doors saying "You can't come in without x quest" The glowing rings over stationary NPCs. All the content being hidden away in instances. Having nothing for non combat players to do. It feels like a game through and through. Its one of the best books i ever starred in.. People complaining about the lack of freedom? Yes, among other things, like hand holding, lackluster combat (which is 95% of the game), shallow class systems, and other general WoW clone issues..
It's the most fun and most open themepark game I've ever played and still the standard by which I judge all other games of that type. The game has done nothing but get worse since Mirkwood but it still is very good because it's built on a very solid base.
But it is a themepark and if you hate themeparks with a passion then you will not like this game. I'd like to play a sandbox Middle Earth game too but that isn't the game Turbine made so no use complaining about it not being something it was never intended to be.
Landroval, the server I play on, has a pretty good community on the whole....
Just that climb down the secret passage to Rivendell was worth awe to any Tolkien fan.
Did you really think that passage was "secret"? Honestly?
Well, we definitely don't have the same concept of "secret" then. While the view down the valley back in 2007 (when the graphics were "modern") was quite cool, the passage was definitely not secret, just follow the "theme park" road (you can't do anything else anyway because of the invisible walls and restrictive hills on each side) and you get there.
I found it at low level with my very first character, without breaking a sweat. There are more "secrets" in a single area of GW2 than in the whole LOTRO world.
There are more loading screens between zones and invisible walls in gw2 than lotro
Which is actually wrong. At least in GW2, when you enter a building, you don't have a loading screen. In LOTRO, every single building you can enter requires loading. Hell, in LOTRO, as soon as you fart in the approximate direction of an underground location or a building, you have a loading screen.
I could have used WoW for that example too. At least in WoW, I can enter an Inn without having a damned portal in the door and then a loading screen to enter it.
and lotro world is about 5x the size of GW2.
Which is even more wrong. It takes more time to travel from one side to the other of Tyria (as is it now without any expansion) than it takes to travel from one side to the other of LOTRO after all the expansions. Both horizontally and vertically. And I'm talking about not using any quick travel options or waypoint systems, just using the fastest available travel method for a character.
I read that as, fastest available non-teleporting method for a GW2 character would be on foot and fastest available non-teleporting method for LotRO character would be steed with whatever is the fastest run speed bonus.
Just that climb down the secret passage to Rivendell was worth awe to any Tolkien fan.
Did you really think that passage was "secret"? Honestly?
Well, we definitely don't have the same concept of "secret" then. While the view down the valley back in 2007 (when the graphics were "modern") was quite cool, the passage was definitely not secret, just follow the "theme park" road (you can't do anything else anyway because of the invisible walls and restrictive hills on each side) and you get there.
I found it at low level with my very first character, without breaking a sweat. There are more "secrets" in a single area of GW2 than in the whole LOTRO world.
There are more loading screens between zones and invisible walls in gw2 than lotro
Which is actually wrong. At least in GW2, when you enter a building, you don't have a loading screen. In LOTRO, every single building you can enter requires loading. Hell, in LOTRO, as soon as you fart in the approximate direction of an underground location or a building, you have a loading screen.
I could have used WoW for that example too. At least in WoW, I can enter an Inn without having a damned portal in the door and then a loading screen to enter it.
and lotro world is about 5x the size of GW2.
Which is even more wrong. It takes more time to travel from one side to the other of Tyria (as is it now without any expansion) than it takes to travel from one side to the other of LOTRO after all the expansions. Both horizontally and vertically. And I'm talking about not using any quick travel options or waypoint systems, just using the fastest available travel method for a character.
Running from thorins gate to helmsdeep takes over 2 hours...
crossing a zone in gw2 takes 5 minutes, and it never takes more the 10 zones to get where you want to be.
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
Part of the issue is the owners of the IP get a lot of say in what a game CAN'T do. They want to preserve their lore and that means that in a world like LotRO (and other lotr games) have to follow the storyline of the fellowship bringing the ring to be destroyed and doing it in the manner that they do.
So either you make a more single player/co-op game where you get to play the heroes in the scenes and smash tons of bad guys. Or you make a game where a lot of people play, but no one is in the fellow so the rest of you just adventure and kill random no names in different places and live a pretty common, non legendary, life.
Non-IP games (or game only IPs which continue on in in a game only franchise) are so so so so so so so so much better for game design as they give complete freedom to developers to make great experiences for the players and bend the world as they need to. However, too many companies are stuck in this mindset of "It needs to be an existing IP for us to even consider it" for some strange reason given that pretty much all of the best sellers/most successful games in video game history have all been original game IPs and many of the worst selling/worst performing of all time are existing IPs. Go figure.
Part of the issue is the owners of the IP get a lot of say in what a game CAN'T do. They want to preserve their lore and that means that in a world like LotRO (and other lotr games) have to follow the storyline of the fellowship bringing the ring to be destroyed and doing it in the manner that they do.
So either you make a more single player/co-op game where you get to play the heroes in the scenes and smash tons of bad guys. Or you make a game where a lot of people play, but no one is in the fellow so the rest of you just adventure and kill random no names in different places and live a pretty common, non legendary, life.
Non-IP games (or game only IPs which continue on in in a game only franchise) are so so so so so so so so much better for game design as they give complete freedom to developers to make great experiences for the players and bend the world as they need to. However, too many companies are stuck in this mindset of "It needs to be an existing IP for us to even consider it" for some strange reason given that pretty much all of the best sellers/most successful games in video game history have all been original game IPs and many of the worst selling/worst performing of all time are existing IPs. Go figure.
Personally i think thew ay we follow the fellowship is awesome... Its the trademark of this game and so you know its linear from the start.. However one must admit there is enough freedom in choosing what standard quests to do and where to go outside of the mainstory line.
swtor for example choose a very different timezone for their game then the wellknown stories and so this allowed for much more freedom, sadly it ended up with a game just as linear...
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
The biggest problem is with how the IP gets licensed. You have a studio that purchases the rights to use the IP for usually around 10 years at a time, meaning they are the only source of games for that IP. Monopolies in any marketplace never result in quality products or services, and IP licensing is just an artificially created monopoly.
We need situations where multiple studios and publishers are able to, for example, license Middle Earth for MMO development, and let actual competition force them to create a quality product. With Lord of the Rings Online, Turbine has known from the start that no matter how bad they do on the game, they will still be the only Middle Earth MMO on the market.
The competition comes from dollars received. Even though they are the only Middle Earth mmo in town, they're still a business that is designed to make money.
Developing a crappy game just for the sake of developing under an IP would be one of the dumbest decisions they could make, especially when it is one of the MMO genre. They would have been better off financially to release less resource-intensive, single player titles that would be forgotten in a month. Now they're in a position where they have to retain customers and/or rely on whales to not only make their game profitable, but also increase the chance of having the Tolkien estate sign an extension on their license.
If the license is not renewed, Turbine would essentially lose potential dollars. The majority of their initial development and launch costs have been recovered and now they can make profits for less work required.
Whether or not people hate the game, I think it's logical to say they are not self-sabotaging. They are making changes with the hopes of either retaining the market they have, or increasing it to previously untapped space. Their plan may or may not be working, but we'll certainly find out in the next year. At the end of the day, vote with your dollars.
Still calling Lotro a greatest wasted potential is stretching it a bit much. The game is fine on its own and if someone wants to try making a Middle Earth Online then more power to them.
The title does not refer to LotRO, per se, but to the fact that games based off The Lord of the Rings have thus far been unable to fulfill the grandeur and splendor of such a rich and powerful IP. That, in my opinion, conveys to the greatest waste of potential, at least in the fantasy genre of games.
Thank you, I stand corrected.
Unfortunately Lotro is the game we have now, and it is unlikely that anyone will be attempting to achieve that potential in the near future. Similarly with the Star Wars IP as well, as many feel after SWG, Swtor was a case of wasted potential also.
Still it makes little sense to me to bemoan the things that might have been. I could have been rich if only I was born with millions of dollars. Sadly it was not meant to be.
Forgot to add: Nicely stated post Lobotomist, I quite agree.
SWG was extreemly wasted potential. Pre NGE, it had almost nothing to do with Star Wars aside from its name. KOTOR on the other hand is always on top games of all times lists, and is literally my favorite game ever created. The Star Wars IP has much less "wasted potential" in video games than the lotr IP.
After that, each new expansion except maybe Mirkwood made the game less LOTR and more "generic fantasy MMORPG". The last outrage was a random band of adventurers entering Orthanc, and surviving (and even besting!) Saruman in his own home.
What quest do you "best" saruman? I played through that bit and I don't remember battling him or even challenging him to a contest of "wits"?
I have a lot of personal issues with LOTRO such as changing the old forest into a corridor with "tree" sides, the art design, not allowing to enter certain areas unless you are on a quest (though that is a symptom of the themepark design) the rune keeper, the use of bad synthesizer patches for music, and "many more" but things such as goats (which make sense) or their "story" aren't really an issue.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
After that, each new expansion except maybe Mirkwood made the game less LOTR and more "generic fantasy MMORPG". The last outrage was a random band of adventurers entering Orthanc, and surviving (and even besting!) Saruman in his own home.
What quest do you "best" saruman? I played through that bit and I don't remember battling him or even challenging him to a contest of "wits"?
It's an instance/raid.
hmmmm Not sure how I feel about that. On one hand your character is supposed to be very powerful but on the other hand he is an Istari and that should count for something.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Comments
Well, there's about 5 in The Shire, there's several up in Angmar and the Misty Mountains, lots in the Old Forest, a few in the Archet area, and some in Weathertop. Not to mention all the dungeons that have doors that, when you click them, literally say "You cannot enter here without the proper quest."
This is so unfair. Please do tell me one better adaptation of any book or movie to a video game , not to say MMO.
As for point made about breaching the lore soon after you leave the Shire.
Point being made, its the game. As far as growing pipeweed and gossiping would be far more fitting. I doubt that anyone including you would manage to play 6 years time of watch the cabbage grow. Not even 1 week.
Its a game.
As for lore ending with Shire. I also beg to differ.
Just that climb down the secret passage to Rivendell was worth awe to any Tolkien fan.
There are not 5 invisible walls in the shire, Angmar your referring to the dread you get if you don't follow the story. Try to follow the story (main part of the game) instead of running around trying to find things that don't exist. Weathertop wtf? Are taking about the skirmish? There are no invisible walls in the open world of weathertop etc etc etc this myth about invisible walls is a joke. Yeah you can't go to domes caves cause you didn't complete or follow a quest do the quest then you can. If you think Lotro is not one of the more open world mmos out today you at just trolling plain and simple.
And here is the main problem I found with the game. Instead of allowing you to explore Middle Earth at your own risk, they force you down corridoors, block you with visible and inivisble gates, and more or less ruin any chance of letting yourself get lost in the game world.
I don't enter Middle Earth to follow a scripted linear half ass attempt at a singleplayer game. I go to be in Middle Earth, and LotRO tries to stop me. I'm not looking for things that don't exist, I'm just exploring, like I can do in virtually every other MMO.
It isn't, by far. I just explained it. Invisible walls, quest locked zones, all dungeons are locked unless you follow a linear quest chain, every house has a loading screen. Games from the 90s were more open than LotRO.
My my post is very accurate about you. If you start the game in Bree for example you can explore tons of the game your first issue would be in angmar when you hit dread. You have any idea how long it would take you to get there and what you would experience on your way? Ok you want to go the other direction your 1st loading screen would be Moria again any clue how long it would take you to get there? What you would see along the way with no invisible walls in Weathertop or Rivendell or misty mountains . Pleas tell me a few mmo that have a more open world then Lotro. Again if you think lotro world is not open then your a troll plain and simple. Go play FFXIV, even Swtor, or Sto, or Age of Conan etc etc. you mass amounts of invisible are nothing but a poor attempt at bashing a video game you don't like.
There are more loading screens between zones and invisible walls in gw2 than lotro and lotro world is about 5x the size of GW2.That is entirely unrelated to what he said. LotRO takes you on a yellow brick road to all the points of interest, GW2 doesn't.
There is nothing "secret" in any MMO. Everything can be found out as an mmo is not the real world. I think you're confusing the two.
I think LOTRO is still a fun game and am enjoying playing it. Stop being so burnt out and go get some fresh air.
Its one of the most open pve worlds sine UO, together with vanguard...
you can do and go everywhere, with or withouth quests... And espescially the orriginal game has some great open world dungeons...
And if you love stories ( and what tolkien doesnt) the game becomes even better...
add to that the great roleplaying and fammilie friendly community on my server, and it is the single game i allways keep returning to....
offcourse you cant be 100 true to the story, but every bit of content is atleast along the lines of tolkiens world. It feels medieval and dark. It feels like a world and not like a game... Its one of the best books i ever starred in.. People complaining about the lack of freedom?
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
I was part of the internal alpha for Middle Earth Online. I was part of the alpha for Lord of the Rings Online. I bought the collector's edition. I played from launch until Moria, and went back to play about 3-4 times since then. I know more about this game than most of you, where it started, and where it went.
My "issue" is that the game world isn't open from default. You can't tell me "Oh yeah, the front door is unlocked, but you have to go on a quest for the key first."
It's the most fun and most open themepark game I've ever played and still the standard by which I judge all other games of that type. The game has done nothing but get worse since Mirkwood but it still is very good because it's built on a very solid base.
But it is a themepark and if you hate themeparks with a passion then you will not like this game. I'd like to play a sandbox Middle Earth game too but that isn't the game Turbine made so no use complaining about it not being something it was never intended to be.
Landroval, the server I play on, has a pretty good community on the whole....
I read that as, fastest available non-teleporting method for a GW2 character would be on foot and fastest available non-teleporting method for LotRO character would be steed with whatever is the fastest run speed bonus.
Can you clarify?
Running from thorins gate to helmsdeep takes over 2 hours...
crossing a zone in gw2 takes 5 minutes, and it never takes more the 10 zones to get where you want to be.
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
EQ2 fan sites
Part of the issue is the owners of the IP get a lot of say in what a game CAN'T do. They want to preserve their lore and that means that in a world like LotRO (and other lotr games) have to follow the storyline of the fellowship bringing the ring to be destroyed and doing it in the manner that they do.
So either you make a more single player/co-op game where you get to play the heroes in the scenes and smash tons of bad guys. Or you make a game where a lot of people play, but no one is in the fellow so the rest of you just adventure and kill random no names in different places and live a pretty common, non legendary, life.
Non-IP games (or game only IPs which continue on in in a game only franchise) are so so so so so so so so much better for game design as they give complete freedom to developers to make great experiences for the players and bend the world as they need to. However, too many companies are stuck in this mindset of "It needs to be an existing IP for us to even consider it" for some strange reason given that pretty much all of the best sellers/most successful games in video game history have all been original game IPs and many of the worst selling/worst performing of all time are existing IPs. Go figure.
Personally i think thew ay we follow the fellowship is awesome... Its the trademark of this game and so you know its linear from the start.. However one must admit there is enough freedom in choosing what standard quests to do and where to go outside of the mainstory line.
swtor for example choose a very different timezone for their game then the wellknown stories and so this allowed for much more freedom, sadly it ended up with a game just as linear...
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
The biggest problem is with how the IP gets licensed. You have a studio that purchases the rights to use the IP for usually around 10 years at a time, meaning they are the only source of games for that IP. Monopolies in any marketplace never result in quality products or services, and IP licensing is just an artificially created monopoly.
We need situations where multiple studios and publishers are able to, for example, license Middle Earth for MMO development, and let actual competition force them to create a quality product. With Lord of the Rings Online, Turbine has known from the start that no matter how bad they do on the game, they will still be the only Middle Earth MMO on the market.
You make me like charity
The competition comes from dollars received. Even though they are the only Middle Earth mmo in town, they're still a business that is designed to make money.
Developing a crappy game just for the sake of developing under an IP would be one of the dumbest decisions they could make, especially when it is one of the MMO genre. They would have been better off financially to release less resource-intensive, single player titles that would be forgotten in a month. Now they're in a position where they have to retain customers and/or rely on whales to not only make their game profitable, but also increase the chance of having the Tolkien estate sign an extension on their license.
If the license is not renewed, Turbine would essentially lose potential dollars. The majority of their initial development and launch costs have been recovered and now they can make profits for less work required.
Whether or not people hate the game, I think it's logical to say they are not self-sabotaging. They are making changes with the hopes of either retaining the market they have, or increasing it to previously untapped space. Their plan may or may not be working, but we'll certainly find out in the next year. At the end of the day, vote with your dollars.
SWG was extreemly wasted potential. Pre NGE, it had almost nothing to do with Star Wars aside from its name. KOTOR on the other hand is always on top games of all times lists, and is literally my favorite game ever created. The Star Wars IP has much less "wasted potential" in video games than the lotr IP.
What quest do you "best" saruman? I played through that bit and I don't remember battling him or even challenging him to a contest of "wits"?
I have a lot of personal issues with LOTRO such as changing the old forest into a corridor with "tree" sides, the art design, not allowing to enter certain areas unless you are on a quest (though that is a symptom of the themepark design) the rune keeper, the use of bad synthesizer patches for music, and "many more" but things such as goats (which make sense) or their "story" aren't really an issue.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
hmmmm Not sure how I feel about that. On one hand your character is supposed to be very powerful but on the other hand he is an Istari and that should count for something.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo